Confused which method to go by

[Fancyhuh101]

Hi guys , so I have 2 strains drying. One just read 12% with a moisture meter, so I trimmed and Grove bagged it . In the Grove bag hygrometer reads 52% . Which means bud is too dry . My second strain is reading 16% with moisture meter , 60% in a jar . Which method do I use ? Everyone says dry to 12% . But this leads to bud in bag at 52% . What do I do ?

 

[Fancyhuh101]

If I bag it too early and hygrometer goes up past 62% can i fix this by just taking buds out and letting them dry a bit more ?

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

Keep 'em in the bag and check them a couple times a day for a few days. If you see that they 'go up', open the bags for a bit, let them release some of the moist air then close 'em up for a day. It's basically like doing the 'burp' procedure that you do with jars. Once they settle down to the level you want, you're done.

...though my experience with Grove Bags is that if you put a hygrometer in and they read the same for a day or two, that's where you're at.

I usually dry down a bit below 62%, usually in that 50-54% range and I haven't had any complaints.

I've never used one of those 2-prong meters, mostly because lots of people have said that they're not greatly accurate for this type of use.

 

[Fancyhuh101]

Keep 'em in the bag and check them a couple times a day for a few days. If you see that they 'go up', open the bags for a bit, let them release some of the moist air then close 'em up for a day. It's basically like doing the 'burp' procedure that you do with jars. Once they settle down to the level you want, you're done.

...though my experience with Grove Bags is that if you put a hygrometer in and they read the same for a day or two, that's where you're at.

I usually dry down a bit below 62%, usually in that 50-54% range and I haven't had any complaints.

I've never used one of those 2-prong meters, mostly because lots of people have said that they're not greatly accurate for this type of use.

How about if you over dry ,which i may have. 52% ., should I add a boost pack ?

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

How about if you over dry ,which i may have. 52% ., should I add a boost pack ?

They don't rehydrate, they're designed to keep things within a certain range. If you over dry there's not too terribly much you can do to fix things, though I have on occasion if it were a bit too low added a mildly damp paper towel to the jar (back when I used jars) for a day or so and been able to get the overall humidity level to bump up a point or two. Though I don't think 52% is bad.

 

[Fancyhuh101]

They don't rehydrate, they're designed to keep things within a certain range. If you over dry there's not too terribly much you can do to fix things, though I have on occasion if it were a bit too low added a mildly damp paper towel to the jar (back when I used jars) for a day or so and been able to get the overall humidity level to bump up a point or two. Though I don't think 52% is bad.

Hmm , interesting. Maybe I'll give that method a try. So you don't think 52% is too dry ? I swear the moisture meter read 12% but maybe not very accurate

 

[chuckeye]

IMO the bud density varies too much to rely on a moisture meter reading of a branch, a hygrometer in a jar or bag after taking the buds off the branches and storing them works much better. Or just a few buds worth in a jar as a test of when to buck the buds off the branches. The hygrometer I use is something like $20 for 5 off Amazon. They do vary in readings by two or three percent but good enough to get you in the ball park with some experience with them.

I recently left my hang go half a day too long and the buds read 54%. I took a small square of paper towel, wet it and squeezed the heck out of it and put it in the tote with the dry buds.

Next day up to 64%, a little higher than my goal of 58-62%.

The only thing you have missed out on is a long, slow cure from ~ 70% down to ~60%. It will cure some in storage but not in the same way.

How I dry/cure my harvest

Cheers

 

[Billy the Mountain]

Hmm , interesting. Maybe I'll give that method a try. So you don't think 52% is too dry ? I swear the moisture meter read 12% but maybe not very accurate

I'm not sure you can make an accurate estimate of the bud moisture content based on the moisture content in a branch.
I have a Lingnomat moisture meter I use for woodworking applications. I've tried it a few times for shits and grins during the drying process and the results don't directly correlate to the bud moisture content. There's a general trend for sure, but I've jarred up buds from branches with the same branch moisture content and the humidity in the jar after stabilizing was not the same. I assume it's due to differences in bud/stem ratio, density, size, etc.
The branch MC may be a decent proxy for bud MC but only in a general sense.

12% MC in a branch seems quite low but I've never used that as a metric. That's the same MC% as a well-dried pine 2x4 fwiw.

I'm currently doing some drying, I'll check the MC of a branch when I jar things up in the next few days.

 

[Fancyhuh101]

IMO the bud density varies too much to rely on a moisture meter reading of a branch, a hygrometer in a jar or bag after taking the buds off the branches and storing them works much better. Or just a few buds worth in a jar as a test of when to buck the buds off the branches. The hygrometer I use is something like $20 for 5 off Amazon. They do vary in readings by two or three percent but good enough to get you in the ball park with some experience with them.

I recently left my hang go half a day too long and the buds read 54%. I took a small square of paper towel, wet it and squeezed the heck out of it and put it in the tote with the dry buds.

Next day up to 64%, a little higher than my goal of 58-62%.

The only thing you have missed out on is a long, slow cure from ~ 70% down to ~60%. It will cure some in storage but not in the same way.

How I dry/cure my harvest

Cheers

With the paper towel getting you back up to 64% does it hold that after you remove the paper towel after ?

 

[chuckeye]

With the paper towel getting you back up to 64% does it hold that after you remove the paper towel after ?

Don't know about grove bags but....

I prefer to dry down to 58% and store in vacuum packed mason jars, good for years !

 

[Fancyhuh101]

Don't know about grove bags but....

I prefer to dry down to 58% and store in vacuum packed mason jars, good for years !

So after you rehydrate the bunch and removed the paper towel , did the bunch continue to stay at 64% or so , or does it slowly dry back down again ?

 

[LeastExpectedGrower]

So after you rehydrate the bunch and removed the paper towel , did the bunch continue to stay at 64% or so , or does it slowly dry back down again ?

Give it time. Moisture has entered the air, but what may enter the plant-matter takes some time.

 

[DeadHeadX]

If I bag it too early and hygrometer goes up past 62% can i fix this by just taking buds out and letting them dry a bit more ?

Yes, I think that is what many of us do. Jar for a bit; if they’re too moist, simply leave the lid off or lay them out on a sheet a bit. Of course, ambient humidity must be below your target for this to work.

 

[chuckeye]

So after you rehydrate the bunch and removed the paper towel , did the bunch continue to stay at 64% or so , or does it slowly dry back down again ?

I slowly dried it back down to 58% and once vacuumed in the jars it stays that way for as long as you want.

Cheers

 

[Fancyhuh101]

I slowly dried it back down to 58% and once vacuumed in the jars it stays that way for as long as you want.

Cheers

Awesome ! Good to know

 

[Lou66]

Are you sure your meter is accurate? Maybe it reads 12 % but the actual value is 10 or 11 %?

 

[Fancyhuh101]

Are you sure your meter is accurate? Maybe it reads 12 % but the actual value is 10 or 11 %?

It's possible it's not the most accurate. I should have been snap testing the branches as well. But live and learn

 

[Cultiuana]

You could rehydrate overly dry buds by adding humidity packs or a small piece of lettuce or citrus peel for a short time to your curing container. But be careful not to overdo it, because too much moisture can lead to mold.
For your second strain, if the moisture meter reads 16% and it’s 60% in a jar, it sounds like it’s in the perfect range for curing.

 

[Fancyhuh101]

You could rehydrate overly dry buds by adding humidity packs or a small piece of lettuce or citrus peel for a short time to your curing container. But be careful not to overdo it, because too much moisture can lead to mold.
For your second strain, if the moisture meter reads 16% and it’s 60% in a jar, it sounds like it’s in the perfect range for curing.

Agree. I'm going to go by the jar humidity